Quadruple convenience outlet



Jan. 16, 1962 G. B. BENANDER QUADRUPLE CONVENIENCE OUTLET Filed 001:.31, 1958 George B. Benah y W 03 A United States Patent 3,017,601QUADRUPLE CONVENIENCE OUTLET George B. Benander, Oaklawn, R.I., assignorto General Electric Company, a New York corporation Filed Oct. 31, 1958,Ser. No. 770,995 1 Claim. (Cl. 339-157) -'-The present invention relatesto an electrical outlet and particularly a quadruple convenience outletthat may be used with the faceplate for a duplex convenience outlet.

. In the home, and especially in older homes with inadequate wiring, itoftentimes happens that a duplex convenience outlet is not able tohandle all of the lamps, clocks, radios and television sets which aredependent on the outlet as a source of power. Cube taps are available toplug into the outlet for increasing the number of electrical devicesthat may be serviced from the outlet. This usually results in agrotesque tangle of cords that extend in all directions and create quitean eyesore on the surface of the wall.

. Multiple convenience'outlets are also available that handle as many asthree and possibly five plugs simultaneously. In all cases, however,these multiple outlets require a special faceplate which is either anintegral part of the outlet or must be sold with the outlet since it isa custom faceplate for that particular outlet only.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide a quadrupleconvenience outlet that may be used with a standard faceplate for aduplex convenience outlet.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a novel contactstructure for a multiple convenience outlet that also utilizes anedgewise wiping action against the prongs of an attachment plug.

The convenience outlet of the present invention is a quadruple outletthat has a front face with two groups of slots for receiving the prongsof attachment plugs. Each group of slots has two pairs of slots whereeach pair of slots are parallel to each other for receiving the parallelprongs of an attachment plug. While I have chosen to illustrate myinvention where the contacts are provided with screwless terminals, itshould be readily understood by those skilled in this art that thisinvention could be used with screw terminals without departing from thescope of the invention. The outlet consists of two similar contactstrips which are seated edgewise on the bottom wall of the outlet andare provided with a pair of spring fingers for each slot in the frontface of the outlet. Each pair of spring fingers has a finger thatprovides flatwise wiping action against the plug prong while the otherfinger is arranged perpendicularly to the first finger to provide anedgewise wiping action. Moreover, each end of the contact stripcomprises two pairs of spring fingers where the edgewise fingers areconnected together and are supported from a looped spring which ismainly situated on the side of the contact strip that is opposite fromthe edgewise fingers.

My invention will be better understood from the following descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawing, and its scope will bepointed out in the appended claim.

, FIGURE 1 is a front view of a quadruple convenience outlet embodyingthe present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a right side view of the outlet of FIG- URE 1 showing fourattachment plugs connected to the outlet.

FIGURE 3 is a front view of the outlet of FIGURE 1 with the upper halfof the front cover broken away to expose the interior of the outlet andillustrate the nature of the two contact strips.

Patented Jan. 16,- 1-962 ice FIGURE 4 is an exploded view of the outletthat best shows the nature of the two contact strips and of the edgewisespring fingers.

Referring in detail to the drawing and in particular to FIGURE 4, thereis vshown an outlet having a recessed base 10 of insulating material, ametal mounting strap 11, and a top cover 12 that is also of insulatingmaterial. The cover 12 has generally oval-shaped formations 13 at eachend which are separated from each other by a flat depressed section 14.These oval-shaped formations 13 have the same configurations as found ona duplex convenience outlet. Accordingly, a standard faceplate for aduplex convenience outlet will fit over this quadruple outlet and willhave a screw that can be threaded into the central opening 15 in thecover. Each oval formation 13 has a front face with two pairs of slots16 and 17. Hence, as seen in FIGURE 2, four attachment plugs 18, 19, 20and 21 may be inserted into the outlet. An opening 22, as seen in FIGURE3, 'is made in each end of the base 10. The housing of the I outlet isformed by placing the mounting strap 11 in the base 10 and dropping thecover 12 over the base. Then suitable self-tapping screws 23 areinserted through the openings 22 in the base and are threaded into thecover 12. Likewise, the strap 11 has openings 24 which mate with theopenings 22 of the base so that the fastening screws 23 also extendthrough the mounting strap. The strap also includes a tapped opening'25at its center. This opening cooperates with the opening 15 in the coverfor receiving a fastening screw for the faceplate, as is well understoodin this art.

The recessed base 10' supports two identical contact strips 28 on itsbottom Wall. The contact strips 28 are held in a parallel relationlongitudinally of the base by suitable partitions, as is best seen inFIGURE 3. Each contact strip 28 has a central terminal section 29 andcontacting portions 30 and 31 on its opposite ends. The terminal section29 cooperates with a spring locking member 32 that is best shown inFIGURE 4. This locking member has two resilient tongues 33 which areeach adapted to wedge a bare conductor against the terminal portion 29of the contact strip. The conductors (not shown) are brought in throughsuitable openings in the bottom wall or back of the base member. Thelocking member 32 also has an anchoring portion 34 which is supported inopposed grooves 35 in the base, as seen in in FIGURE 3. This type ofscrewless wire termination is better described in the Benander PatentNo. 2,705, 785, which is also assigned to the same assignee as is thepresent invention. Suitable embossments 36 are made in the terminalsection 29 that face the locking tongues 33 of the screwless terminals.The purpose of these embossments is to form a wire-receiving groove orseat which will tend to prevent a wire from sliding along the face ofthe terminal section 29 when the looking tongues are in engagement withthe wires. If provision were not made for these embossment in theterminal section 29, then it might be possible to swing a wire back andforth until the wire would slide out from beneath the locking tongue.

The paramount feature of the present invention is the particularconfiguration of the contact strips 28. Each contacting portion 30 and31 has two pairs of spring fingers 37 and 37', where each pair isadapted to make engagement with a prong of an attachment plug that isinserted through one of the slots 16 and 17 in the front cover of theoutlet. Each pair of spring fingers 37, 37' has a flatwise finger 38 andan edgewise finger 39. The two flatwise elements 38 are joined togetherat their bottom portions by a connection 40. Likewise, the edgewisefingers 39 are joined together by a connection strip 41 which is in turnresiliently supported by a looped spring section 42. It should beunderstood after referring to FIGURE 4 that the looped spring 42 extendsupwardly and outwardly from the plane of the contact strip as at 43.Then it is bent in a reverse curve 44 until it extends substantiallyperpendicularly to the plane of the contact strip. The major portion ofthe looped spring 42 is on one side of the contact strip while theedgewise fingers 39 and their connecting member 41 are disposed on theopposite side of the contact strip. It will be understood that theedgewise fingers 39 and connecting portion 41 are first blanked from thesheet stock at a point above the free ends of the fiatwise fingers 38.Then the rounded edgewise fingers are folded from the ends of theconnecting portion 41. Finally, the looped spring 42 is formed until theedgewise fingers 39 are opposed to the spring fingers .38.

Having described above my invention of a novel quadruple convenienceoutlet, it will be readily understood by those skilled in this art thatI have devised a quadruple outlet that can be used with a standardfaceplate for a duplex convenience outlet. Novel contact strips havebeen utilized to their best advantage by aflording a looped spring foreach pair of edgewise fingers that make engagement with the prongs of anattachment plug. The configuration of the looped spring is such thatwhen a prong is inserted into the outlet, the spring will be Wound upwhich, of course, affords a strong wiping action with the plug prongs.Moreover, the insertion of one attachment plug will not loosen thegripping action for an adjacent plug. Instead, it will increase theholding force due to a twisting action in the looped spring. The contactstrip has been designed to afford a maximum amount of spring action andlong life for the spring fingers of the contacting portions of thecontact strips.

Modifications of this invention will occur to those skilled in this artand it is to be understood, therefore, that this invention is notlimited to the particular embodiments disclosed but that it is intendedto cover all modifications within the true spirit and scope of thisinvention as claimed.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

A quadruple convenience outlet comprising an insulated housing, and apair of contact strips positioned in the housing, each contact striphaving a pair of attachment blade-receiving portions at each end, eachportion having two pairs of spring fingers, one of each pair of springfingers being arranged edgewise with respect to the other of each pair,the edgewise fingers of each end portion being supported from a springsection having a loop on the side of the contact strip that is oppositethe edgewise fingers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,938,309 Williams Dec. 5, 1933 2,106,588 Benander Jan. 25, 19382,143,767 Eichwald Jan. '10, 1939 2,477,952 Benander Aug. 2, 19492,488,976 Huppert Nov. 22, 1949 2,609,414 Weisberg Sept. 2, 19522,705,785 Benander Apr. 5, 1955 2,724,811 Poupitch Nov. 22, 19552,738,482 Benander Mar. 13, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 583,407 Great BritainDec. 17, 1946

